A vast population of indigenous domestic dogs once roamed the Americas, concludes one of the largest studies yet of ancient dog DNA, published in Science on 5 July. Today, almost nothing remains of this dog family, apart from a bizarre transmissible cancer. Image: edenpictures
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Another non-human primate has entered the Stone Age – the fourth type known to have done so. One population of white-faced capuchins living in Panama routinely use stones to smash open nuts and shellfish. Image: Tony Nastase Photography
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An ape skull found in a Chinese tomb might belong to a previously unknown gibbon — one that was driven to extinction within the past two millennia, researchers report on 21 June in Science. Image: Samuel Turvey/ZSL
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Life can survive inside a furnace heated to more than 400°C. At least, that’s the extraordinary claim being made by one group of researchers. However, others say such an unexpected conclusion will need to be supported by stronger evidence. Image: washuugenius
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It’s a Stone Age mystery: why did one-third of the people living in an ancient village far from the sea develop a condition typically seen today in avid surfers? The weird prevalence of “surfer’s ear” in the ancient community might shed new light on the way humans lived just before the farming revolution. Image: wildrosetn39
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